The Opener!!!

Opener weekend, Well lets just say it was one of a kind, hunting... yea a bit, playing and having a great time, Absolutely.... First off Colby and Regen decided they didn't want anything to do with opening weekend of the archery hunt, their intentions were to stay home and go wake boarding on Utah Lake. However the weather didn't fare so Colby got yard work done, Regen, well I'm not sure being the good brother he is, I'm sure he was at Colby's side.
Me (Brian), Jon Hafen, Kenton Gulley, and Shea Haws were headed to Fish Lake for the opener of the hunt. Well Friday around 3 we headed to WalMart to get food, while shopping for food we decided to come back home and hook up to the boat and take it with us, so we could wake board on Fish Lake during the afternoons. The plan sounded flawless and full of fun, however, the water temps at Fish Lake get into the mid 60s is all, a bit on the chilly side but what the heck.
After coming back home loading the boat, switching the rangers into the enclosed trailer we headed for the gas station to fuel up.
Loaded and on the road around 4 pm we headed south on I-15 only to get a phone call from a friend in Page. Let me take you back 2 months ago. I got a crazy hair to buy a boat. Our family bought in on a time share in Powell on a houseboat, long story short I bought a boat, well its first voyage was to Powell, and lets say for lack of my typing skills and length of story the first two days were spent chasing parts and fixing the boat. In that time frame, myself and an employee from Car Quest Auto Parts became pretty good friends. After several hours jerry rigging a part for the boat, we found that we had a common interest, HUNTING! imagine that. Leo (AKA) Car Quest buddy knew of some deer in the southern region, and when I say some I mean like 5 is all.
So back to I-15 south bound Leo (aka car quest buddy) phoned in, and wanted to know what I was doing for the opener. After a few minutes he had twisted my arm so hard that we drove right by the Nephi exit and we were headed to POWELL.

This weekend will definitely go down in the books as one of the greatest openers ever. We arrived in Page, AZ. around 10 pm Friday night, ate at Denny's, met Leo at car quest, parked boat in back storage yard and pulled sleeping bags out, climbed into boat, made beds, laid down, took deep breath, and everyone started laughing about the trip that was about to unfold.

Up at 4 am to meet Leo and head for our scouting positions in hope of finding or even getting a glimpse of one of these desert ghosts. 3 hours into the opener everyone's eyes were having a hard time staying in the glasses. We saw cedars, sand, lizards, ravens, and a few Jack Rabbits. But with the sun blazing at our faces, the reflection of the water on the far horizon beckoned to our sweaty salty bodies. It was time to call it a morning, put away the bow and grab the board and ski and hit the lake. So back in the rangers and back to the trailer we went. A few jack rabbits deterred us along the way, and lets say that we did draw blood the first day. So in the trailer into the bags out with the one swimsuit off with the camo and we headed to the lake. I must say we were a sight for the loading ramp... 4 guys in swimsuits and hunting boots, with camo hats and camo shirts, lets just say the ladies were FLOCKING.

Look at this face, Can you see why we had to beat them off with skis and oars. What a fun weekend, just goes to show you its not always what you harvest, its the time spent with friends and family that make the memories.

The next few days were, SWEAT, SKI/BOARD, HIKE, EAT, REPEAT!!!!!!! Shea was able to hound dog out one of these desert ghosts, While driving the ranger he came across a set of tracks that had crossed in between he and I, and hopped out and tracked them to their beds. Unfortunately some jack---! called his cell phone when he was closing the distance of the last 40yds. The large velvet ghost became a reality as it emerged from beneath the large cedar, only to give him enough of a glimpse to convince him to spend the next 3 hours dragging his tired aching body down through the cliffs and sand. Kenton being the friend he is, decided to go look for Shea because he would not answer his phone. Kenton not knowing Shea was on the hot trail of a large buck, headed out following the small footprints of this Large man. Kenton thinking Shea was only a few hundred yards off headed down the trail without a bow or backpack looking for his little buddy. 3 hours later Leo picked these two very thirsty and very fried, tired men up in the desert. After getting a couple more glimpses of the buck the ghost eluded them only to realize they were a few miles farther away than they wanted to be.

After the pick up of our two sun baked buddies, it was back to the lake, a cold Pepsi, bag of chips and sunscreen, Shea and Kenton were alive and well. We spent the next 3 hours on the lake before our 3 day opener weekend trip was over. John is the guy you see here in the boat holding the flag, he is my brother in law and a great friend. Kenton is the one in the GQ pic with the fence pole, also a great friend and an employee at Humphries Welding Supply. Shea, the big dog is the one standing on the back of the boat getting ready to wake board, he also is a great friend and employee at both welding and taxidermy stores.

Well and I'm this goofy guy wake boarding in my ASAT leafy suit. I hope you all have had a great opener and have many amazing stories to tell. The pics are starting to come in of all of your success stories. Please send a brief story and a picture of your success and we will post it on this sight. Remember its not always the size of the trophy or even the animal that makes the hunt a success. Its our freedom to be in God's country and the memories shared with friends, family and children. I hope the hunting season of 2009 brings memories to all and some meat in the freezer too! Thank you to you all for your support and friendships, we cherish you all and wouldn't be here without you.

Thanks again and GOD BLESS!!!

The Last Shoot!

The American Fork Shoot ended our shooting season this year! We have had a wonderful time traveling from shoot to shoot. Thank you for your support and we have met a lot of great people and appreciate those that have followed us. Please keep checking in for the upcoming shoots for next year. We have a great opportunity to travel with the International Sportsmen Expo, starting in January in Denver, Colorado, February in Phoenix, Arizona and then back to Salt Lake City in March! Will we keep you posted on dates and times.

Our Glow in the Dark shoot was a blast with Joanna Johnson taking the prize and kicking the guys butts! Good Job Joanna!

Our 3D shoot winner was Chance Platt. With Larry Larsen taking home the second place prize. Third was Brownie Cyphers, fourth place to Zane Ellis, Shaun Larsen took fifth place, and Jason Hawkins took home the sixth place prize, Jason also took the prize for the long shot at 123 yards on the elk at an inch and 5/8 from the pin!! Good Job everyone!!! Thank you for all your continued support without you all it wouldn't be possible! May your hunting season bring much success! Keep your eye on the blog for all of your hunting success this hunting season, we will be posting your pictures and stories of your hunts this year. Send your pics and stories to Brian at brian@humphriesarchery.com.

Good Luck to ALL!!!

American Fork Shoot

Here is more information for the upcoming shoot and a map for directions. If you click on the picture it will enlarge for better view! Hope to see you all there!! It will be a blast!

Directions to shoot: Take American Fork 5th East Exit follow it off going North. Go through light on State and 500 E follow straight until you get to 670 N take a right, then take a left at the ball park fields and head all the way to the back following the road around.

Humphries Shoot

Ok we have finally nailed down a date for our 3D Archery Shoot! It will be Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1st. It will be held at the Art Dye Park in American Fork, we will have a map posted soon with directions to the shoot. We will be having the glow in the dark shoot on Friday night and the shoot off will be Saturday. We will post times and all the details soon!

Bryce Canyon Shoot

SFW Shoot was a blast! Thanks for all the support from those of you that came out and participated. Thanks to Ruby's Inn for letting us use their ground for the shoot. We had a lot of fun the weather was awesome.

Sara Smith, Mouri Richmond, Michelle Polluck shot for the back pack and Michelle took the prize. Congratulations Michelle!

For the men we had Chance Platt that took home our first place prize of Vortex binoculars, Brayden Richmond with an Eberlestock Backpack, Jeremy Johnson won a $200 gift cretificate to Lightning Archery, and Chris Broadbent won $100 cash for fourth place.
Congrats Guys!


For every shooter that participated in the shoot they received a raffle ticket for the chance of winning a buffalo tag and the winner was Mouri Richmond! Way to GO!!!

Next Week is our Bryce Canyon Shoot! It will be a ton of fun. We will be giving away a Cow Buffalo Hunt, every registered shooter will receive a ticket for the drawing. Every shooter that stays on the qualifying board will receive a second ticket. During the shoot off every shooter that advances to a next round will receive one additional ticket! So every shooter has a chance at the Cow Buffalo Tag. Even all you women shooters will receive tickets.

And the Winners are...

Thank You to all of you that came out and participated in the Utah Outdoor Adventure Expo Shoot. A special thanks to The Bowhunters of Utah for inviting us to put on the shoot. For those of you that couldn't make it, we had a great time. The shoot was indoors at the Utah State Fairgrounds. The board was a little scattered this Shoot, with Chance Platt shooting a qualifying score of 118 out of 120 possible, leaving him the only shooter to shoot in the Pro class. Good Job Chance! Which the other shooter completely enjoyed because they were able to shoot in the Advanced class. It came down to our last four shooters, Chance Platt, Tim Kern, Heidi Mitchell and Shaun Larsen...with Chance Platt and Shaun Larsen shooting a tied score of 104, so we counted up the 12's and Shaun scored 2 more 12's than Chance giving him the 1st place check!

1st Place: Shaun Larsen $500, 2nd Place: Chance Platt $300,

3rd Place: Heidi Mitchell $200, 4th Place: Tim Kern $100

Our Top Women's Score was Joanna Johnson with a qualifying score of 92. Joanna and Chance received Bowskins and a hat for our top scores on the board.(Donated by Bowskins)
Badlands donated a backpack to give away to our last qualifier, which was Michelle Polluck. They also donated another backpack for a raffle shoot...the winner of that backpack was Garrett Criddle.

Good Job Chance, Joanna, Michelle and Garrett!
Thanks again to all of you who support us and make it the reason why we keep coming back!! Three cheers for you great shooters!!!

Utah Outdoor Adventure Expo (Utah State Fairgrounds)

There is still some spots available on the qualifying board, so all those that qualified today bring your friends to get qualified for the shoot off tomorrow(Saturday). All shooters need to qualify by 4:00pm. So round up the troops and we'll have some fun. FYI the shoot is indoors.

Shooters
Just a quick Follow up on the shoot this weekend. The times of the shoot will correspond with the expo. So we will be shooting Noon on Friday the 5th, until 9 pm , and 9am -9pm on Saturday.
So the Qualifying time will end at 4pm on Saturday and we will start our Women's shoot off between 5-5:30 So the men's will follow right after, depending on the number of women shooters we should see the men's shoot off between 6-7pm.
Thank You and we will see you their.

WELL SHOOTERS ITS TIME!!!!!
The Utah Outdoor Adventure Expo (say that 3 times in a row) anyway is now approaching us. June 5Th-6Th @ the Utah state fair grounds We are excited.We will be located inside this year in the State Fair Grounds. Rain or Shine or WIND if you were with us last year. We are going to have Cash Prizes at this shoot, $1100.00 Guaranteed. 500 for 1st place , 300 for 2nd, 200 for 3rd, and 100 for 4th, and we will take 10$ of every shooter and add to the pot and pay out to 8Th place. Women shooters we will do like we have been, we will pay a place for every 5 shooters. So for 15 shooters we will pay out 3 places. SHOOT FEES 35.00 Registration Fee, Re Qualifying 15.00 and Practice and Fun rounds 5.00.
So come out and have a great time, Questions please call 801-360-7806 Brian

LOCATION #3 PAYSON NOW OPEN

ATTENTION CUSTOMERS FROM UTAH COUNTY SOUTH!!!! We have added a 3rd location to better serve you. Our new store on 5th north main st is now open for business, just in time for you to get geared up for the hunt. Regen Robinson will now be managing the payson store. For those of you that know him it will be hard to see him go. Many customers have grown to love this big teddy bear, and with his knowledge and personality its hard not too. But for those of you in south Utah county, what a great gift you have received. It was hard to see Payson Spots close their doors, even myself that was my pro shop before I started Humphries Archery in 2002. Scott Dockstater and Kevin Wilkey helped us get started with our manufactures, and we have had a great relationship with them. We are honored to step in and pick up were they left off. Business hours will be the same as our American Fork location. And for those of you wondering who will fill Regens shoes. Well if you have been in the store the last year you probably have seen a quiet skinny young kid named James. James is my nephew and has been with us for almost 2 years, 16 years old and very talented. James has a deep love of hunting and will almost sacrifice life to do so. With Colby as a boss and trainer you can bet James will not only fill Regens shoes, but will also learn to come out of his shell. As for Colby you all know he is the MAN and will continue to serve you with all the knowledge and passion you have seen in the last 7 years. What can I say,"he was trained by the BEST"!!! And from all of us at Humphries let us say thank you Form making Humphries Archery the Fastest growing Pro Shop in the WEST!!!!!!
Click on the Link to Humphries Archery or go to humphriesarcheryproshop.blogspot.com and see our new location.

Attention Archers!!!!

DATE CHANGE AGAIN!!!!

The Bryce Canyon Shoot( SFW) has been changed back to the 26th and 27th of June Sorry for the inconvenience, we will not change it again. And for those of you wanting to bring RVs their are limited spots available so please contact me for reservations. brian@humphriesarchery.com. RVs are $20 per night, with picnic tables,swimming pool, and pavilion and we will be in the trees this year.Thanks and again we are sorry for any inconvenience.

THE KING OF THE ROCKIES

The 2009 KING OF THE ROCKIES shoot was held this past weekend and oh how exciting!!!!




We had full participation, filling the board, with even 8 women shooters 2 of which shot for the bows and money. The Richfield chamber usually takes a portion of the registration money to help with cost of the event center. This year they put their portion back into the pot for the shooters. So we decided to give $10.00 of every shooter, that normally would have gone to the Chamber, into a pot and we paid out to 8 places. Humphries Archery matched the chambers contribution and dropped the entry fee from 50 to $40.00 .

We had some great women competition too, Karen Clark from Salina went home and dragged her bow out of the closet, after her son came and shot on Friday. Angela Payne (left) from Elsinore stepped up to the line after a little persuasion from her husband.

Left to right Veronica Brown (Richfield), Micki Oliver (Eagle Mountain) and Jodi Bates From (Lehi) all stepped up to the plate shooting some great scores. Left to right Angela Payne (Elsinore), Kjersten Lund (Salina), Karen Clark (Salina), Veronica Brown (Richfield), Micki Oliver (Eagle Mountain), Joanna Johnson (Orem), Heidi Mitchell (American Fork), and Jodi Bates (Lehi).

Heidi and Joanna entered the Open class to shoot for the Title and the bows, leaving the other six to battle for the women's class. Jodi Bates went on to win, posting a 93 over Veronica with an 86 and Micki following in 3rd with an 75. Jodi Bates took home a dozen Easton arrows while all the other ladies split the $50.00 pot. Thank You to all you women who participated it was alot of fun and we hope to see you at our next shoots and definetely in Richfield again Next Year!!!!!

Heidi and Joanna went on to shoot for the Title (KING) and the bows and money. Shaun Larsen (top left) showed up to defend his thrown as King of the Rockies 2008. Shaun posted the Highest Qualifying score of 116 out of a 120 possible. Jace Sagers posted and matched his 116 to Qualify also. The scores posted throughout the 2 days ranged from 88 to 116, many shooters local and distance posted some great scores. We even got old Jeff Sorensen from Humphries Archery in Richfield to shoot. Joanna bumped herself to the open board and posted a 102 to qualify. I'm telling you what, there are some women out their that with a bit of experience you boys better hold on

John Barclay of Gunnison (right of Joanna) showed up to try the exciting pop up system. He only came to try it but after 2 fun rounds was addicted and joined the board.

The shoot off started and people began to fall off the board one round after another. Shooters fell off only being beat by just 2 points. Some say it was just stupidity others say they choked under the pressure. The board cleared 16 people the first round leaving 16 to go. Some of the highest shooters fell due to a dropped arrow or an arrow falling off the rest as they drew on their next target. The suspense was thick as we watched some of the best shooters walk away with their heads down knowing they could have shot better. While the under dogs kept chiseling away at the board. Some of the advanced shooters were still clearing the pros even into the final 4. This shoot proved with a little luck and some skill you can work through the board and finish the game not necessarily being the best shooter. Well we came to the final 8 shooters where everyone at this point was a winner. and among them was Heidi Mitchell. The next 8 rounds were so suspenseful that one could hardly handle themselves. I needed 5 more redbulls my nerves were shot. Shaun had his hands full will Jarrod Bagley who had thrown some 110+ rounds earlier, they shot a head to head clearing their first round dead even only for Shaun to defeat Jarrod with 2 more 12's the second round. Heidi Mitchell was head to head on her side of the board with Jace Sagers who also ran neck and neck through their rounds only for Heidi to slip by taking the bracket by 2 points. Chance Platt was clearing his side of the board with ease until running into Steve Marshall of Richfield who only fell to Chance by 4 points. Andy Christensen of Mayfield and John Barclay of Gunnison both cleared their way through their side of the board only to end up head to head were Andy grabbed an extra 2 points to land himself into the top 4. Tim Kern (ISE champion) found himself head to head against the King (aka Shaun) for one of the 4 seats ,who just 3 weeks earlier he defeated to go on to win 1st place in the International Sportsman's Expo. Tim cleared the first round 2 points ahead of Shaun. Shaun stood like a rock not letting the pressure get to him and grabbing 4 extra points the second round to beat Tim only by 2 points. Heidi and Kevin went head to head looking for that 1 of 4 spots. Heidi claimed the first round ahead of Kevin by 6 points Kevin backed the next round with a near perfect score only to fall 2 points short of Heidi.

This leaves Heidi Mitchell, Shaun Larsen, Chance Platt, and Andy Christensen. Heidi , Shaun, and Chance were all on the Pro speed, and Andy was still standing strong on the Advanced.

Therefore Heidi, Shaun and Chance all shot Head to Head. The King (aka Shaun) posted a 110, Heidi Mitchell matched his 110 and Chance with a 106. Andy shot his round and posted a 108 landing him in Third place. With the King and Heidi at a dead tie we counted the number of 12's shot in their last 2 rounds. Shaun had shot five 12's out of 10 Heidi shot six 12's out of 10 THEREFORE BECOMING THE NEW KING OF THE ROCKIES!!!!! or should we say QUEEN!!!!

Heidi Mitchell 1st place Mathews Drenaline and your New 2009 KING OF THE ROCKIES!!!


Shaun Larsen 2nd place Hoyt Trykon

Andy Christensen 3rd place with his dozen gold tip arrows and $100.00 in prize money


Chance Platt 4th place and his Hip Quiver and $80.00 in prize money


Tim Kern and Kevin Oliver both had a score of 106, giving them both 5th and 6th place, both took home $50.00

Steve Marshall 7th place with a 104 took home $25.00


John Barclay 8th place took home $15.00 enough for dinner on the way back to Gunnison

Again let me say thank you to all who came and participated. We had a great time, special thanks to Richfield and the Chamber for having us. Thanks to Ace Hardware for the use of the plywood, Thank you to Humphries Archery of Richfield for the Mathews Drenaline Bow and Jorgensens Honda for the Hoyt Trykon. And of course Comfort Inn of Richfield for the Great Rate on the rooms. Oh and last but not least the National Guard for letting my son climb the rock wall 800 times:) Thanks to all you Shooters who faithfully follow and support Humphries Archery and our quest to build Archery throughout the state. May God bless you all, and our country, and the freedom we enjoy everyday.

Shooters Its almost time to crown the new King!!! The Sevier Valley Sportman Expo is next week 27th 28th. So grab the kids and the husband or wife jump in the car and make a weekend out of it. Ladies lets get some shooters their so we can crown a queen next year. Humphries archery will again grant prizes for a women's class. In the past we never have had a class for the women ,but do to the interest in the last shoot we will honor one place or prize for every 5 women shooters, So lets get 15 ladies their so we can have 1st 2nd and 3rd place prizes and another great shoot off. Guys sharpen those skills knowing the 12 ring and were it is located will really be a factor in this shoot as for almost every target will be less than 20 yards. Scores will be High and most of the board will end up in the pro bracket. So knowing the location of the 12 ring will be one of your best strengths. Well good luck to you all and we will see you soon!!!!!!!

ISE Finals

Our First ISE shoot was a huge success, thank you to all who participated, And a special thanks to the ISE for having us.

Thank you to all who traveled long distances to come and shoot, we had shooters from Oregon, Canada, Wyoming and from all parts of Utah. Wow! Thank you for your support we had a great time. One thing we hope some of the shooters learned, is not to wait until the day of the shoot off to qualify. Sorry to those of you that didn't make the qualifying times, the shoot is becoming more popular all the time, therefore you need to try and get qualified before a couple hours before the shoot off. We also held our first women's bracket and division, how fun it was to see all of you stand up and shoot in front of all the crowd, it was an awesome moment for archery and us here at Humphries, you add so much to the sport.

So for you that participated again from us at Humphries let me say thank you again, Because of you WE WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR IN 2010 AT THE ISE SHOW !!!!!!

With the participation we had with women, we decided to have our first womens bracket. We will continue this tradition at the rest of our shoots. With every five shooters we will create one place(prize). So if we get ten women shooters we will give 1st and 2nd and with 15 shooters we will honor 1st, 2nd, and third. The women shooters represented Utah Archery Center, Cabelas, and an archery club from Rock Springs, Wyoming and Humphries Archery special thanks to these shops for getting the ladies involved. Hope to see you ladies at some of our other shoots!!!!Left to right Keslie, Tracy, Jodi, Cambrea, Micky, Crystal, Joanna

Left to right Tim Kern, Jace Johnson, Heidi Mitchell, Bob Covington.

This was the results of of our 32 seat bracket. 1st place was a tie between Tim and Jace, however in the event of a tie we count the number of 12's shot in the round, Tim had one more 12 than Jace to go on to win the round. Heidi turned some heads at this shoot as she was one of two ladies that chose to compete for the bows. She continued to widle her way to the top continually producing great scores landing herself a 3rd place seat and a brand new bow! Bob made a astonishing run from our number 32 spot the last qualifier on the board. He knocked off the number one shooter his first round and continued through the rest of the board working himself all the way to the 4th seat earning himself a brand new bow. Tim and Jace shot the pro speed with excellence standing rock solid against many great shooters, some of the best, I might add, defeating each opponent by 1 or 2 points but enough to win their bracket. This was one of the most competative shoots we have had, the skill of several archers were very capable of winning but the consistancy, with a little luck paid off for these 4 shooters. Way to go you guys it was alot of fun, thanks for all the support and we hope you enjoy your new bows!!!!!

Jace Sagers from Lehi was our high score qualifier of 110 points out of 120 possible. Jace won the Blacks Creek backpack. Congratulations!